Venom Coldmaiden - viable in PvM?

[Ed from Russia]

I'm planning my first MA Assassin (although I've made a few trapsins), and I just want to run my idea by you experts.

My thought is to make a Cold Maiden and combine it with Venom to deal 2 types of elemental damage at once. I haven't read about this combination before, but it looks like a good idea to me.

Skill setup something like this:
- 20 Blades of Ice
- 20 Phoenix Strike (synergy)
- 20 Venom
- 1-10 Shadow Master (up to lvl 17 including +skills)
- 10 Weapon Block
- 1 Cloak of Shadows
- 1 Dragon Claws (as finisher)
- rest in prerequisites, Claw Mastery

I intend not to focus on physical damage, so I can keep strength and dex low.
As much as possible will go into vitality. I will not use a shield because I think assassins look better without (I can always play a Pally if I want a shield).

I don't have much equipment for assassins at the moment, but hope to trade it. I need to read up on this, but will probably go through the first 30-40 levels untwinked and I will use what I can find.

[muzzz]

Seems quite an interesting build, albeit relatively low on damage compared to other 'sins. Spot-on concerning the shield, by the way. Shield-sins are wusses :grin:

I'd like to suggest two more 1-point-wonders: mind blast and blade fury. These two will give you the option of comfortably applying venom at a distance.

Personally, I think 10 points in weapon block is major overkill. Between levels 5 and 10 you'll only get 8% extra chance to block. I'd suggest relying on +skills to get a decent level of blocking and putting the hard points into something more useful.

[Ed from Russia]

tnx, helpful. You are right about Mindblast; I missed that one in my skill overview. Concerning blade fury, I think it has 2-3 prerequisites, which is a bit much. How about having a fast (cross)bow on switch; doesn't that have the same effect? I've never really used Blade Fury.

[Nimbostratus]

Seems like a decent idea. Though there are some things you may want to consider:

-Only the first swing of Dragon Claw releases charges.
-You'll already have some +skills to boost Shadow Master, so your weapon block will also be boosted. Combine that with diminishing returns, and you'll find it's really only practical to put about 3-5 points in it.
-You may want to consider using Burst of Speed or Fade.

[muzzz]

tnx, helpful. You are right about Mindblast; I missed that one in my skill overview. Concerning blade fury, I think it has 2-3 prerequisites, which is a bit much. How about having a fast (cross)bow on switch; doesn't that have the same effect? I've never really used Blade Fury.

BF has one prerequisite, blade sentinel. 'sins have pretty cruddy attack speeds with a bow or crossbow I believe, whereas BF is nice and fast. And it would free up the switch for something else. A bow is not completely useless though. This guy (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=568239) reported pretty good results from using a piercing crossbow.

-You may want to consider using Burst of Speed or Fade.

They're both prerequisites for venom, so he'll have at least 1 point. Choosing which one to activate depends mostly on what gear you can get. Use BoS if you have plenty of res gear, fade if you have plenty of IAS gear.

Too bad you'll want level 20 venom though. I can't pimp treachery now :azn: